Sunday Reflection: on being part of Creator's Holy Family

Today's reflection is brought to you by
1 John 3: 1-2, 23-24

(adapted for the Community of Emmanuel below).

This morning it was my turn to offer the reflection for the Community of Emmanuel, but first Donna read the reading below:  

What great love our Creator has lavished upon us! We are called children of God! And so we are! The ones who belong to the ways of this world do not know the Giver of Life. That is why those who do not really know Creator have not recognized us, either. Much loved friends, we are Creator’s children. It is not yet clear what we will be. But we know that when God appears, we will be like God, for we will see God as God is.

This is Creator’s instruction for us: that we trust in Creator’s son, Jesus, and love each other as he taught us to do. All who follow these instructions remain in Christ, and Christ remains in them. We know that God remains in us by the Spirit of love that lives in us.

* * * * * * * 

Today is an interesting Sunday. We just celebrated the arrival of Jesus as a baby, but already this week the readings switch focus away from the baby to Jesus as a 12-year-old member of the Holy Family -- and to us also as members of God’s Holy Family.

The first reading we just heard was chosen to remind us, as we start a new year, how much our Creator loves us. Did you hear what the writer of the First Letter of John says? God loves us! We are called God’s children! Because we are God’s children! And even from a very young age, Jesus knew this. One of the reasons he became human is to remind us that we are all God's children.

The Gospel story I am about to invite you into shows us that Jesus, when he was only 12 years old, had a very loving relationship with God. Maybe, when we were younger, we had a close relationship with Creator, but as we get older, life happens and sometimes we lose that sense of closeness.

If you were close to your parents, did you call them Daddy or Mommy, Mama or Papa? Abba and Ima are the words used in Jesus’ culture, and he likely used them for his own earthly parents – and for God because his relationship with God was very, very close. He wanted to be in the Temple, God’s house, as we'll see in a moment. For him, it was home.

I want to invite us all into today’s Gospel reading, the story of Jesus’ trip to Jerusalem with his parents. Make yourself as comfortable as you can, feet flat on the floor, back straight, arms and hands relaxed. Maybe you’d like to close your eyes or lower them to the ground. Take a slow, deep breath and let it out gently and quietly. Keep breathing gently as is most comfortable for you, and listen to my words as I share today’s Gospel reading in a different way than usual.

Imagine walking on a dry and dusty road... See the dust on your feet and sandals... Hear the sounds of the people around you, walking with you... Your uncles and aunts, cousins and extended family, cousins of cousins, old and young...

It’s the end of a long journey to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, a time to remember how ancestors were delivered from slavery in Egypt, with special food and prayer and music and dancing, a very big feast and celebration, a time of joy and love with so many relatives...

Walking in the shade of a grove of trees, hear your uncles telling jokes as they walk, some of them holding little ones on their shoulders... See the donkeys carrying tents and sacks with food... See the women walking and laughing together, carrying babies and belongings... Everyone is tired but happy, looking forward to returning home...

Suddenly, Mary is beside you. “Where is Jesus?” she asks.

“I thought he was with you!” one of the aunties tells her.

“Has anyone seen Jesus?” Mary asks loudly.

The crowd stops, and people start calling his name and talking loudly about when they last saw him.

Joseph runs back from the front of the group and asks Mary, “Is he here?”

“I don’t know where he is,” she wails.

“We’ll have to go back to Jerusalem,” Joseph says, and turns to you saying, “will you come with us?” Some of the relatives quickly pack some food and water to take for the journey, and you go with Mary and Joseph as they turn back to Jerusalem...

It is late in the day, and the sun is going down, but Mary and Joseph are worried and hardly stop... Their anxiety is thick in the air as they speak quietly about how dangerous it is for a twelve-year-old boy to be alone in the city of Jerusalem... The waning Passover moon and stars are bright in the dark sky as you walk and wonder where Jesus could be...

The sun is rising, as Mary and Joseph arrive where many families camped for the festival... They hoped to find Jesus waiting there... He isn’t... After checking in other camps where Passover pilgrims are lingering, it’s clear he’s not there either...

You follow Mary and Joseph into the city markets, asking the sellers if they have seen a 12-year-old boy matching Jesus’ description... You walk the winding streets of Jerusalem calling his name... Joseph talks to a man he met during the festival, and the man leads you to a room where you and Mary sleep briefly... When Joseph returns to sleep, you and Mary go out together to continue the search...

Jerusalem is a big city, 25,000 people and likely still at least twice it’s usual size because of pilgrims... Finding one boy among thousands seems impossible... You are all exhausted, but Mary and Joseph are determined to find their beloved son...

After two days of searching, in desperation, Mary says, “Let’s go to the temple to pray for Jesus’ safe return.” You walk together to the highest point in the city where the temple shines in the sun, hoping to see Jesus on the way there... The smell of smoke and burning animal sacrifices is thick in the air...

As you arrive in the courtyard of the temple, feeling how tired you are, you marvel at the high walls and pillars, but Joseph and Mary are running toward a crowd sitting at the base of one, so you race to catch up...

There is Jesus! He is standing in the middle of a circle of temple teachers, talking to them about God’s love for every being on earth... They are listening with smiles on their faces, looking at each other and nodding, and one of them claps his hands in delight...

But Mary can’t stop herself... She rushes into the circle and throws her arms around Jesus as if he is about to be swept away in a flood... Jesus laughs, but then his face turns serious as he sees the tears running down her face as she says, “Why did you stay behind, Jesus? We have been anxiously searching for you!”

His eyes light up with love and he says, “I’ve been here in Abba and Ima’s house all along.”

The teachers who have been listening to Jesus are murmuring, “Abba and Ima’s house... Yes, yes, El Shaddai is loving Abba and Ima to all... We have never seen one so young with such a beautiful understanding of God!”

Joseph puts an arm around Jesus and says, “My son, it’s time to go home.” Jesus nods, smiles at you and takes Mary’s hand as you walk through the courtyard and leave the temple together...

And now, I invite you to slowly return from this story to the room we are in right now...

Even as a young child, Jesus had a deep understanding that he was loved by God, and he remained in that closeness throughout his life, right to dying on the cross, where he said, Abba, Ima, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. He knew that human beings often don’t understand the violence in our own hearts. We don’t really understand love.

And maybe that’s because many of us have ideas about God that come from the bad old days, ideas that make us think that God is like us human beings. We might think that Creator gets mad at us every time we mess up. Perhaps we live expecting punishment because maybe our parental figures weren’t aware of the violence in their own hearts and punished us too much instead of loving us in a good way.

But Creator is only goodness and love, never meanness and punishment. If we mess up, Creator is a loving parent who picks us up, dusts us off, and says, “That’s okay. Try again.” The punishments in our lives once we are adults aren’t from Creator, but are often from our own negative thoughts about ourselves and others.

Jesus came to prove that Creator lavishes us with love, even when we do stupid things, or make wrong choices, or hurt others and ourselves. One of my favourite songs says, Taking everything upon himself, Christ opens the way for us toward faith, toward trust in God, who wants neither suffering nor human distress.

And so, today’s big reminder, this Sunday of Holy Families, is that we are family. We are Creator’s beloved family -- and family to each other. God is a daddy, a mama, who looks at each of us with a love bigger than the universe, who wants only goodness for us, and who sends people into our lives to be God’s care for us when we ask for help.

To bring this reflection to a close, I invite you to pray with me:

Thank you, Creator,
for spending all your love on us.

You call us each by name.

We are your children,
and we thank you for surrounding us 

with your beautiful creation.

We ask your blessings on our parents,
and on all those who have been like parents to us.

Bless all those 

who need your care and attention today,
and help us to be brothers and sisters,
offering care and attention to those in our lives
who need understanding and love the most.

Make us into your family.

As it says in the first letter of John, 

let your Spirit of love shine from our lives.

Amen.

Monday Music Appreciation #45: I Heard the Bells (Johnny Reid)

Last week I had the privilege of working both evenings at the Winspear Centre for Music for Christmas with Johnny Reid. The man is definitely an entertainer, cracking jokes in his Scottish brogue and singing with an energy and enthusiasm that proves he loves his work and his fans.

The song below was quite powerful both evenings, as his band was backed up by our Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and he had the crowd singing like the Gospel choir and waving their phone lights. The second evening, my usher seat was near the front of the chamber, so I was able to look back at the sold-out room, main floor and three balconies full of people standing with their lights shining, singing Peace On Earth.That phrase has stuck with me ever since... something my heart is yearning for this season of Advent like never before.

Here's the song, for your enjoyment.

Monday Music Appreciation #44: An old hymn in honour of Jim

Yesterday was the last Community of Emmanuel service led by our dear Associate Pastor, Jim Gurnett, who has decided to retire after seven plus years of serving with Inner City Pastoral Ministry. As we began, Pastor Quinn announced Jim's retirement at the end of December, and I suspect that had an impact on Jim's listeners -- what a special service it was! It started with a Land Acknowledgment and Jim's special brand of groan-inducing humour, and once two Advent Candles were lit and those who wanted to smudge had that opportunity, Jim launched into a beautiful reflection on the Canticle of Zechariah.

I have always loved listening to Jim, but his sermon yesterday was exceptionally good, probably because of his unshakeable belief in the words of Zechariah, and because his love for the community shone through more brightly than ever. 

At the close of his sermon, Jim used the following words from St. Paul after telling everyone gathered that Paul's words to the Philippians (1:3-11) reflected his own sentiments toward them:

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer,

(here Jim had to pause for a long moment, a bit choked up) 

that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Jim then spoke beautifully about the value of community, of caring for one another and helping each other, especially when times are hard. 

Jim is truly a community elder, full of kindness, wisdom and generosity, always gentle and encouraging, but also not afraid to speak hard words to the powers that be when injustice rears its head. I'd go so far as to call him a living saint, though I'm sure that would embarrass him. 

Jim Gurnett is the man local journalists turn to every time they need news commentary on homelessness -- and he's schooled more than a few politicians -- and me -- about the struggles faced by those living on our streets because they have nowhere else to go due to governmental neglect. And in these past few years, as I've really struggled with my faith, Jim's certainty about God's love and his belief in people in spite of the injustices he always stands against has helped me more than words can say. 

Jim will continue with the Community of Emmanuel as a participant rather than a leader. He's leaving the role of associate pastor to me, though I have no hope of ever filling his shoes. I am hopeful that I can be of special assistance to the women of our inner-city community, and anyone else who needs a listening ear. There's a women's group who looks forward to some spiritual input, and I'll continue with music ministry and lead the second service of each month, and meet folks on the streets with my ministry partner, Pastor Quinn, two mornings a week. We work well together, Quinn and I... but I'll miss that third partner, Jim, though he'll still be around whenever I need advice. The Community of Emmanuel is his church.

Another thing I have really appreciated about Jim is his willingness to colour outside the lines when it comes to liturgy. His services often had a show-and-tell quality to them, including little activities or small items shared for people to carry with them to remind them of the day's message. He invited me to sing a Roy Rogers song one Sunday, and yesterday, he asked for a beautiful old hymn that we used to close the service. It was very fitting, as he has called the Community of Emmanuel to gather near the throne of God more than a hundred times over his time of ministry.

Here's a more modern take on Jim's song request. This version of Shall We Gather at the River is a pretty amazing listening experience, especially toward the end. In the video's comments, someone noted that the singers can't hold in their joy at making this music together. 

Enjoy! and God bless Jim in his retirement!